Ensoniq TS-10 / TS-12

The TS series workstations introduced in 1993 were the culmination of
the line that started with the ESQ-1
and progressed through the SQ-80, VFX, VFX-SD,
SD-1, and SD-1/32. The resulting TS contained the most
advanced feature set, most powerful sequencer and sound engine, and
provided high quality sound and powerful effects processing.

The TS series consists of two models: The TS-10 with a 61-note synth
action keyboard with velocity and polyphonic aftertouch, and the TS-12
which is virtually the same instrument, but it has 76-note hammer action
keyboard with a channel aftertouch feature from Fatar. No rack-module
version was produced.

The synthesizer section has 32 voices of polyphony (12 MIDI tracks of
multitimbrality). It uses a ROM bank with 6 MB of samples from various
acoustic instruments, synth waves, percussion and sound effects. A
single patch is called a "Sound" and can be made from combining up to
six waves. Each "Sound" can have up to four variations which are
selected via two "Patch Selector Buttons" above the Pitch-bend and
Modulation wheels. A performance patch, called a "Preset" can be made
from up to three "Sounds" with independent settings for each "Sound".
Arranged by banks are 120 user "Sounds" and 120 user "Preset"
performance patches plus 180 preset "Sounds" and 180 preset "Preset"
performance patches. There is also one bank for 10 sampled sounds which
can be doubled if the RAM is expanded. The General MIDI sound set is
also available in the TS.

The TS-10/12 makes use of the following four types of synthesis
technologies:

Wavetable synthesis with the following parameters for each
tone: Three envelopes, two multistage filters (unfortunately without
resonance), an LFO with settings for tone pitch, output, panning, delay,
multisample shift + modulation matrix, and more.

Transwave: Similar to Wavetable synthesis, this technology
allows real time changes to the tonal timbrality. The Transwave consists
of 128 single cycle waves, each of which is part of the original (highly
processed) sample. The loop start and end points can be modulated in
real time by various sources like the LFO, envelope generators,
modulation wheel, etc. The TS series synthesizers ROM includes eight
types of Transwaves (far fewer than the SD-1 had, unfortunately) and new
ones can be created as a sample and imported into RAM.

Hyperwave technology is a kind of wave sequencing similar to
that used by the Korg Wavestation.
The wave list can contain up to 16 steps and allows you to create
impressive textures or rhythmic patterns.

Sampling: The TS series instruments can load samples from
compatible Ensoniq samplers (EPS, EPS 16+ and ASR-10/88) into its RAM via 3.5" floppy
disks or the optional SP-4 SCSI interface. Many sampled sounds will not
fit into the standard 2 MB memory and therefore the memory expansion
option up to 8 MB is recommended. Sample editing is very similar to the
EPS/ASR systems. The only problem is that the TS can not save the sample
data directly on EPS/ASR disks. You must use another disk (formatted
using the unique TS format) to save your sample data, and to load an
edited sound you must use both these disks because the TS saves only the
edit settings without the actual samples. The RAM is volatile and the
sampled sounds efface each time you turn the instrument off.

The effects section is based on Ensoniq's famous DP-4 effects
processor. It includes 73 preset algorithms with up to 10 variations of
each algorithm. There are 692 variations of effects including various
Reverbs, Delays, Choruses, Flangers, Phasers, Distortions, Speaker
cabinet simulations, Rotary speakers, and a lot more. Each algorithm can
consist of up to three simultaneous effects. The effects section is
fully programmable and can be modulated by various sources. The user's
setting is stored together with the appropriate "Sound" or "Preset".

The 24-Track sequencer has a typical Ensoniq structure: There are 12
non-linear Tracks for composing short blocks (called "Sequences") and
another 12 linear tracks. It features many functions like quantization,
mixing, event editing, controller filtering, etc. Its capacity is 30,000
notes and that can be expanded up to 97,000 notes.

The TS-10 Plus (a later model) used a conventional LCD screen and was
equipped with the SCSI interface and fully loaded RAM options as
standard. The weak point in the TS series workstations is that they are
totally incompatible with anything other than the aforementioned Ensoniq
samplers. They can not load nor save .mid files, .wav sounds, etc. and
they can not use standard DOS formatted disks.

Despite the non-resonant filters, the TS series workstations are very
powerful synths with a rich and thick sound. They can produce complete
musical arrangements in a number of genres. The succeeding generations
of Ensoniq workstations (KT series and MR/ZR series) lost a lot of the TS's features
and many users consider the TS to be the best of Ensoniq's
workstations.

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